Hublot Big Bang Watches

Ever since it was discovered that combining iron, chromium and carbon made a material that could be used to make almost anything, stainless steel has been king of construction. It’s strong, it’s malleable, its hardy—and that’s why it’s also used for making watches. What more could you ask than that? Well, apparently you can get watches made of other, more exotic materials as well. But why?

Now Baselworld 2019 has ended—and now we’ve got the big-hitters out of the way—it’s a chance to take a look at what caught our eye at this year’s show. So here they are, the best of the rest from Baselworld 2019.

We’ve covered many of the varied and interesting complications watchmaking has to offer, from the humble self-changing date to the mighty perpetual calendar, but despite the vast iterations of features we have seen, there are always a few more that we haven’t—and some of them are quite unusual. Here are three of them—the question is, are they useless or not?

The steel and gold used to make watches are sourced from the ground and refined into a raw material, which is then shaped and finished into the final product. All pretty standard, pretty normal. But what if you could grow your watch instead?